100 



THE PRACIK AL GARDENER. 



EXTRACTING THE SEEDS FROM THE CONES OF THE PINUS FAMILY. 



As the seeds of this valuable division of trees are matured 

 within a hard scaly seed-vessel or cone, it is not without diffi- 

 culty that they are extracted when they are required to be 

 sown. Of all the coniferous trees, the larch, Scotch fir, cedar 

 of Lebanon, and black American spruce, are the most difficult 

 to part with their seeds, and hence many methods have been 

 devised and adopted to facilitate that object. 



The use of fire-heat in differently constructed kilns has been 

 very generally used, particularly with the extensive nurserymen 

 in the North, for the purpose of opening the cones. Splitting 

 the cones, with an instrument for the purpose, has been used to 

 a great extent ; and grinding, either by the cone-mill or com- 

 mon improved bark-mill, has been still more generally adopted. 

 When the (juantity of seed required is small, the most conve- 

 nient method of separating them is to split the cones into four 

 equal pieces, by means of a small triangular iron or steel in- 

 strument sharpened to a point, and having three cutting angles, 

 put into a wooden handle like a shoemakers-awl. In per- 

 forming the operation of splitting, the cone should be held 

 between the fore-finger and thumb of the left hand, with 

 the smaller end or point resting on a board. The point 

 of the instrument is inserted in the centre of the broad or 

 bottom end of the cone, and with a slight effort, the cone is 

 divided into two portions; the same operation is performed 

 with each halt^, which leaves the cone into four equal parts. 

 The cones, thus divided, may then be placed on a sieve before 

 a moderate fire, and the seeds will soon drop out on a piece 

 of paper or cloth placed underneath on purpose to receive 

 them. The splitting of the cones is often carried to a great 

 extent by commercial nurserymen, and as the operation is 

 performed in bad weather, or by old people or children, the 

 expense is always covered by the larger quantity of uninjured 

 seeds which is obtained by this method than by grinding them, 

 which, although more expeditious, is destructive to a large 

 portion of the seeds. Many of the pine tribe will open their 

 cones before a moderate fire without being split, and when 



